Law & Justice Commission Pakistan set up Police Committee Reforms

QUETTA: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohsin Hassan Butt on Thursday said the Law and Justice Commission Pakistan set up a Police Reforms Committee (PCR) in 2018 to recommend the way forward on police reforms.

He said the PRC submitted a report which was launched in Jan 2019, saying the most important point suggested by the PRC was to give the highest priority to the redressal of public complaints against the police, said press release issued here.

“It was suggested that to ensure that we have a system whereby public complaints against the police are dealt with in every district by specially selected officers of integrity of the rank of SP/DSP, who would have no other responsibility except dealing with public complaints”, IG said.

He said this was suggested to ensure speedy and fair disposal of public complaints against the police, adding the sole benchmark of evaluating the success of this venture was the reduction in the number of people who after approaching the police with complaints had to run courts to get relief.

“We have no doubt that if the idea is implemented in letter and spirit, the excessive of workload on the courts”, he said, saying over and above the adjudication of criminal cases would be drastically reduced, enabling the courts to reduce the tremendous backlog of criminal cases.

Mohsin Hassan Butt said the decision of the SC about the Justices of Peace, asking the complainants if they had approached the police authorities with their complaints is nothing but a continuation of the existing practice of the JPs asking the complainants for an affidavit about them having approached the police and not getting any relief.

We have only tried to ensure that the complainant, once he approaches the district complaints officer is provided immediate relief, due to him, as per law, he said and added we assure the honourable members of the bar, that our basic goal is to strive for alleviating the sufferings of the common man vis a vis complaints against the police.

He said the honourable bar members and the police officers are partners in this noble endeavour and shall continue to be so.